A Prayer for Vocations

A Prayer for Vocations
Homily for Sunday, April 26, 2015
Fourth Sunday of Easter - B
by Dcn Bob Bonomi 

This Sunday is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  In 1964, Pope Paul the 6th designated the 4th Sunday of Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday, to be a World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and so we are supposed to “pray for vocations” this weekend.  What do you think about when you hear the word, “vocation”?  I’m willing to bet that the first thing that pops into your mind is the call to the priesthood or to the consecrated life.  And that’s all well and good, but is that all there is to a vocation?  To be a priest or a nun?  NO. 

Let’s look at a definition for vocation.  Merriam-Webster’s abbreviated definition says that a vocation is “a strong desire to spend your life doing a certain kind of work (such as religious work)” or “the work that a person does or SHOULD be doing.”  I like that– SHOULD be doing.  But in the spiritual sense, a vocation is much more than just “work”.  Your vocation helps define who you ARE.

Do you know what YOUR vocation is?  We all have one, you know.  Oh, I don’t mean your job, or your hobbies, or even your ministries – although they all may reflect your vocation.  No, I mean what is it that you are called to “BE”, in the eyes of God.

Before you can discern WHAT your vocation is, you first should know WHO you are.  Some people spend their entire life trying to figure out who they are.  We suffer from an “identity crisis”; we worry about what people think of us and we often struggle to form ourselves into how we think others should see us.  We miss out entirely on who we really are, in God’s eyes.  So, who are we?

As St. Paul says in today’s second reading, “we are God’s children NOW”.  GOD’s children.  Before anything else, we are a CHILD OF GOD.

What does that mean to us?  How does that help us determine our vocation?

Well, Jesus said that we should be holy, just as God our Father is holy.  So, THAT is our first vocation, as children of God – to be HOLY.  Does that sound vague?  It isn’t.  The pursuit of holiness should be the underlying motivation for whatever we decide to spend our life doing, and that includes our jobs, our hobbies, - yes, especially our ministries.  If what we do in our life doesn’t draw us to holiness, then we already have a problem.

Oh, great.  That means that all of you attorneys, you doctors, you computer programmers – whatever you’re doing, if it isn’t religious work, then you obviously missed the boat when you were called to your vocation.  RIGHT?  NO.  It only means that we always keep in mind that our first vocation is a call to holiness, and THEN, if in the performance of our chosen occupation keeps us from that call, maybe we should re-evaluate what we are doing with our lives.

And how do we answer the call to holiness in our daily lives?  Jesus shows us how, in today’s Gospel, as he begins with the simple statement,   “I am the Good Shepherd”.

Why a shepherd?  Now, Jesus obviously didn’t tend sheep as his occupation, but he wanted to emphasize the virtues of one who was a child of God – in Jesus’ case, God’s only begotten Son. And the image of God as the shepherd of His people is one used throughout the Old Testament, so it is an image that the people of Israel would be familiar with.  Jesus used this image to show the difference between BEING a shepherd and WORKING as a sheepherder.

“A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”   But, 
“The hired hand … works for pay and has no concern for the sheep."

So, to be a child of God and holy in our vocation, we must care enough for those that God puts in our lives to be willing to sacrifice everything for them.  Those we care for include not only our families, our friends, our co-workers – but ALL who touch our lives.  WE are called to be shepherds to them.  THAT is our call to holiness.  To love others and lead them to God in whatever job we have, whatever our situation in life.

And we, in turn, need good shepherds to show us the way to holiness.  We need good, holy, loving clergy and religious people whose JOB - whose VOCATION - it is to BE holy and help us find our own holiness.  They are OUR shepherds.

And it can be a tough time to be a shepherd in the Church today.  The wolves of our society are prowling around the edges of our sheepfold - even among us - trying to snatch us away from God.  And the wolves are particularly interested in attacking our shepherds.

So, then, what SHOULD we be praying for, on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations?  Obviously, we should be praying for those men and women who have chosen a religious or consecrated life – especially our priests.  Especially this week – really, every day – we should be offering up to God a prayer of thanksgiving for those who have answered the call of a religious vocation, especially our Priests.  And we need to pray for an increase in religious vocations.  But, let us also pray for holiness in our lives, and to know our own vocation.

I want to leave you with a simple prayer – a prayer for vocations and for us to know our own vocation.  Please close your eyes:

Dear God, I ask your blessings on those who are seeking to know their vocation.  I pray:

1.   For the young – that they be open to God’s call to the religious life
2.   For single adults – that they have the virtues of chastity, patience and courage to answer their call
3.   For married people and those who are parents – that they embrace the vocation of marriage, of family, as witnesses to God’s love
4.   For priests, deacons and other religious men and women – that they continue to find joy in their vocations
5.   For older people – that they serve the Church as lay ministers
6.   For the elderly – that they be prayer warriors for those who cannot pray

Lord, my God and my loving Father, you have made me to know you, to love you, to serve you, and thereby to find and to fulfill my deepest longings. I know that you are in all things, and that every path can lead me to you. But of them all, there is one especially by which you want me to come to you. Since I will do what you want of me, I pray you, send your Holy Spirit to me: into my mind, to show me what you want of me; into my heart, to give me the determination to do it, and to do it with all my love, with all my mind, and with all of my strength right to the end.

Jesus, I trust in you.
Amen